Comparing North American and European countries with respect to their approaches to immigration and citizenship has always been difficult given their very different historic legacies and policy approaches. Yet, recent developments suggest taking a more thorough look at this comparison: Many European countries have adopted immigration policies that (if not in scope than at least in spirit) copy the Settler Societies’ and especially Canada’s expansive approach to recruiting newcomers mainly based on their skills. Similarly developments in governing access to citizenship, practices of recruiting migrants or the treatment of refugees show comparable developments on both sides of the Atlantic. This panel asks whether indeed we have witnessed a form of convergence when it comes to immigration and integration on both sides of the Atlantic – namely an emphasis on economic imperatives, such as skills, education and class – or if policy formation and broader socio-political approaches in this field are still fundamentally different in both contexts, following distinct (non-economic) nationalist and ideological considerations.